Well, you knew this was coming.

President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

"I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do."

..but this is the part I like.

"It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize," the president-elect explained. "Part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up."

For years, the Democrats didn't have to be "reasonable" about Guantanamo, but no suddenly, when they are in the driver's seat, they have the nerve to ask us to consider the complexity of the issue. Let's face it--betrayals of this sort result in gun play everywhere in the world. The Democrats are going to have to pay a price for the nonsense they've engaged in to the detriment of the country.

Guantanamo was never an "good" solution, but it was always an optimal one--the best that could be done under the circumstances. Every reasonable person knew this, including Bush's two-faced critics, but they played the issue in their own personal political interests and against the interests of the country.

In all likelyhood, Obama is going to come out with a statement, sometime in the spring, that will effectively announce that Guantanamo is going to stay open for the foreseeable future. Sure--he'll spin it, but ultimately it will be a concession that his team could find no better way for dealing with extra-national combattants who wear no uniform and have no place to go.

Next time Democrats feign moral outrage about something, punch 'em in the face.